The Curse in Her Blood

Chapter 22

Before

This was not what she had thought it was going to be.

When Astarte had joined a God's consortium, she assumed there would be gold and jewels everywhere and most of all, covering her.

And while she did get all the gold and riches she wanted, she was not in the land of the golden gods. She wasn't where the world was bright the clouds were fluffy.

She had tied herself to the God of the Dead, the trickster God of Chaos, Set, who was outcast to Duat, a shriveled dark land.

Everything about him and his land was dark. Sinful almost. The people were barbaric, growing herbs instead of the golden wheat. Their houses made of mud and sticks. They didn't have a single offering worth anything to give them.

But her God didn't care about gold. He cared about his people and what kept them comfortable.

It was disgusting.

This wasn't what she had thought she was getting when she threw her lot in with an immortal. She had dreamed of gold and finery and everyone bowing down to her. And while the people bowed down to her, she could tell that they really didn't like her much.

So because she hated Duat she spent almost all of her time in the Upper Kingdom with the other gods. She was almost always with Hathor as she was the only god that Set trusted. She was fine, but she wasn't as pretty as Astarte, not as pretty as Astarte would assume a Goddess of Love and Fertility should be. Her floppy cow ears sort of ruined the image.

Set didn't get along with the other gods, specifically Osiris and his family. As a result he was basically a pariah and in turn so was she.

It was embarrassing to go to the lavish parties and have everyone stare at her like she was dirt. It didn't help that she always had to wear his colors, which was black. She felt like she was always shrouded in darkness and death now, and it made her skin crawl.

But this was her ticket to golden riches, she couldn't have Set cast her aside before she could find another more promising god to take her in. So she had to continue to sleep with him when she didn't want to, because she had no choice.

He was actually quite respectful of her, despite the stories that were told of him. If she asked him not to touch her he would give her her space. Which worked out wonderfully for her.

But because she was allied with him, sharing his bed, none of the other gods were interested in bedding her.

She may get stuck in the land of the dead for the rest of her life and that was just unacceptable.

She had left Set's palace early that morning before he came back from the nightly blessing. If he asked why she'd tell him it was because he needed his rest and she didn't want to disturb him, but in truth she just didn't want him to want to cuddle with her.

She was milling around, wondering how early was too early before showing up at Hathor's when she bumped into him.

This was a god she hadn't met before. She knew he was a god because he was glowing, all the gods had a halo of glow. The only one who didn't was Set because and she was quoting him here, he didn't like to. His land was dark, too much of a glow could hurt his people's eyes.

Absolutely nonsense.

The god in front of her, was clearly an Upper Kingdom god. He was in golds with accents of sky blue. His eyes themselves were the color of a morning sky, his hair, windswept and a bronzed golden hue. He was tanned, he was decorated in the kind of jewels and gold she dreamed of.

He had set her loins ablaze.

If only she had met this god first. She would have gotten everything she wanted. The gold, the jewels, an amazing bedding. That last part was just an assumption, but by the looks of him she could tell he'd be good in bed.

"And who are you?" he asked her. "You can't be one of the serving girls, we never hire anyone as attractive as you."

Astarte blushed. "My name is Astarte, my lord."

A wry: "Ah," comes from him. "Set's new plaything."

She almost frowned, she hated that her name was synonymous with his, hated that this wonderfully handsome god knew her as Set's most current bed mate.

"Are you enjoying the land of Duat and its dark and twisted ruler?"

"I much better prefer the Upper Kingdom."

Why lie? It was true.

This made the god in front of her smile. "Well at least you're honest."

She smiled. "You have not given me your name."

"Yes, and I won't be giving it to you just yet."

"Oh no?"

"No, not until I get something in return."

"But you already have my name."

She was playing at being coy but she knew what he was getting at. And she might just give him what he wanted. Honestly, look at him, he was absolutely stunningly handsome.

"I think you know I want something... else."

"And I think you know that I too... want something else."

The god in front of me smiles. It's a smile of understanding.

"Yes I know your kind. You want all that glitters, you want golden sunshine."

He's reached out to her, his arms snakes around her waist to pull her to his chest. His broad over muscular chest.

"And will you give it to me?"

"Oh yes, that and more," he whispered to her, his face so very close to hers that she was practically blinded by the light, by the sky blue orbs hovering above her.

She knew if she agreed she'd get what she wanted. She knew if she played this game it would only be a matter of time before she was whisked away from the land of shadows to where she really belonged.

So she let him kiss her.